Death special: Turning the dead

Travel writer and lecturer Hilary Bradt saw how the Merina and Betsileo people of central Madagascar deal with death

The people of Madagascar believe the dead, or ancestors, are more powerful than the living, that death is a transition to something greater. This means they greatly respect old people, as they are nearly ancestors.

When someone dies, they are dressed in their best white clothes for the period of mourning, then wrapped in a white silk shroud and placed in a family tomb - a large concrete box, often decoratively painted. About seven years later, they are exhumed in a big ceremony known as the famadihana, or turning of the bones. The bones are "turned" so that the loved ones can be remembered and because people think the ancestor might be cold and lonely - and in need of a big party.

I was nervous about going into a tomb ...

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